I thought that you might enjoy seeing my watercolor paintings in my art journal during my lake vacation. I posted them on Instagram but I know that some of you aren’t on IG so this is for you! And it is kind of fun to see them all together. 🙂
I have decided to show it in two posts. Here is my first week:
I started with a simple leaf study on Sunday, July 17 and painted it 3 times. I have the actual leaf in the photo above. It was really fun to paint it more than once.
On Monday, July 18, I painted this view from the beach. I haven’t done too many landscapes so it was fun to try one:
On Tuesday, July 19, I gathered a few rocks from the beach and painted them. I found painting beach rocks to be very meditative:
When walking in the woods on Wednesday, July 20, I discovered this rare find – it is called, Indian Pipe or Ghost flower:
It was one of my more difficult subjects to paint as I had to paint the shadows.
Thursday, July 21, we had a perfectly, blue-sky kind of day! The best weather all week. I found this Thimbleberry Bush and clipped a couple of stems to paint:
On Friday, July 22, I painted this dragonfly from a photo I had taken previously. I really liked how it turned out:
On Saturday, I painted this more complex subject of Bunchberries from a photo I took from a walk along a path:
I ran out of time and patience on it. I wasn’t pleased with my background but I decided to give it a rest. I kept reminding myself that it is about practice NOT perfection…
On Sunday, July 24, I tried another challenging subject – beach toys on the beach from this photo:
I learned a lot during my first week of painting while on vacation. I enjoyed trying a variety of subjects and I didn’t give up when I struggled. YAY!
I’m not sure I would have painted in watercolor EVERY day if it wasn’t for Charlie at Doodlewash who started World Watercolor Month for July. (Note the group is now called, World Watercolor Group). Thanks Charlie for inspiring me!
I will post my photos for the second week of my lake vacation on Thursday, August 4th.
Happy Painting! 🙂
Those are nice. You’ve been busy then 😉 I particularly like your pen and watercolor leaves 🙂
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Thank you, Alex! 😃 Glad you like my leaves. I so enjoy painting them! 🎨💕🍃
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Lovely paintings Jill I love the yellow leaves and wish you to enjoy a great vacation! ❤
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Thank you Carolina! 🍂😄🎨 I had a wonderful vacation! So happy you like my paintings. ❤️
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Great I am glad you had a good one! And yes I like your paintings keep creating! 😉
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Great job Jill!!
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Thanks Jodi! I know you already saw them on IG. I enjoyed seeing your photos there as well – your girlfriend camp looked so fun! 🌞💜🏖
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Hard to pick a favorite, but that dragonfly is pretty great. You caught the transparency and delicacy of the wings. (K)
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Thanks Kerfe! 😍 I was very pleased how it turned out! 🌈🎨
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Nice work. I’m a fan of your dragonfly as well. Your daily drawing is really paying off!
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Thank you Laura – and I agree, I am seeing an improvement in my drawings and my paintings. 🎨💕 Although watercolor is not my favorite medium, I am finding I am enjoying it more. 😄
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I’m finding just the opposite but I think July was overkill for me and maybe I’ll come around. You’re doing great, Jill. 💜
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I’d love to see more of your animals in watercolor, Laura. I really liked the dog you did awhile ago. 💕😃
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Jill, I am having an abstract thing now and it’s really hard for me to paint realistically. I do draw most every day still, and always draw realistically but for painting, right now I just need total freedom, and for me that is abstract. Too many other limitations and I need one part of my life that is totally free. Probably in the fall when the heat isn’t boiling my brain, I may find headspace for realistic painting again. Probably fall in love with leaves again. 😀🍂🎃🍁👍🏼 I started painting abstractly last summer, probably for the same reason, now I think about it. I will enjoy your realistic WC and other paintings while I’m waiting for fall to arrive. 💜
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These are all great – but the dragonfly is amazing!
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Thanks Kathy! 😃 This is the one that landed on my leg when I was in our boat. It let me take several photos of it. I’m amazed how many varieties there are of them!
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Wonderful paintings, Jill! Glad that you had a great vacation and painting moments.
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Hi Carrie! So happy you enjoyed them. 😍 I had a great time painting every day outside. 🌸🍂🌲
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Thanks for showing them here, it looks like you are having a great time! I especially love the dragonfly:-)
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Thanks Birgit! ❤️ It was a relaxing vacation. 😄 I’m very pleased with my dragonfly too!
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You really challenged yourself during your vacation. Good variety of subjects Nice work! Looks like you had a great time!
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Thanks Carmel, I had a wonderful time! 😃 And it was fun choosing different subjects each day to paint. 🎨💕
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Jill, gosh you inspire me, I never do location sketches but I might try soon. Loving the dragonfly. What is your instigram name? I can follow. Im off to buy an art journal to carry with me and leave in my car.
Kath.
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Hi Kath! This is the first time that I tried to paint every day in my sketchbook while on vacation. I found it really enjoyable. I also liked the size of my watercolor sketchbook – approximately 8×6 inches. My Instagram name is the same as wordpress, art_Jill_Kuhn
xo
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Sorry Jill for some reason I posted twice here, the first posted comment did not look like it came up so I posted again feel free to delete one sorry about that.
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No worries! I deleted the second duplicate. 🙂
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Those little red berries are so pretty, love the painting! 💕
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Thanks Ann! So glad you liked it! 🙂
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Love seeing these, Jill. I especially like the thimbleberry, the dragonfly and the bunchberry ones!!
I am feeling so fortunate, NO chemo and No radiation needed, NO invasive cancer found, from my post-op appointment yesterday. Today, I had my first shower in 3 weeks other than sponge baths!! It felt SO GOOD!! 🙂 We’ll be back at the lake tomorrow, Wed. Aug. 3, for 10 days. Hope to see you and Tom there.
With Love,
Marsha
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Wonderful news, Marsha!! YAY!!! So happy for you! ❤️ Thank you for taking the time to comment on my art. 😊🌈💕
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Such a wonderful collection from your vacation. Love all the different approaches and subjects, from the delicate wings of the dragonfly to changing colors of your leaf. Beautifully painted, every one, and kudos for embracing the challenges each had to offer. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you Haunani for your kind comments! 💜 I appreciate them so much! 💕🎨😍
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Awww I saw these on IG but wasn’t commenting there (too many places to comment! Lol😊I couldn’t possibly keep up!) So great to see the collection together here! Love them!! (I love the little yellow boat most!😍) And love that got you painting daily even more!! Yay me!! Hehe Vacation looks like fun!! 💕😃🎨
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Thanks for liking them on IG too, Charlie! 💕😃 Yes, I understand -it is hard to comment everywhere… One of the reasons I took a blogging break! 😉 Glad you like the toy boat – it was a challenging subject for me to paint without a black outline. I did use a pencil sketch which took me some time to get it right! 😃🎨💕 Vacation was awesome!
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Yeah… blogging breaks sound nice, but I can’t seem to stop! lol I definitely need a vacation soon!! Glad yours was awesome my friend! 😃💕
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They are all lovely Jill! The dragonfly is my fave. Sounds like you had a fabulous vacation! I’ll look for you on IG!
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Thanks Rhonda! 💕💖
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Pingback: Painting On Vacation – Part 2 | Jill's Art Journal
Love your paintings and photos….I love thimbleberries! so yummy and what a find on the Indian Pipe! wow…..:)
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Thank you Margaret! 😃 I’m not a big fan of eating Thimbleberries as they are a bit seedy for me but I really enjoyed painting them!! 🎨💕 And I was so thrilled to find the Indian Pipe! Thank you for your kind comments. 😍
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Great work Jill! The dragonfly is excellent! It really pops! 👏
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Thanks Eileen! 😃❤️🎨 It is a favorite of mine!
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